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The WTO - The Stoner's New Best Friend
WTO scrutiny of American drug laws may sound far-fetched, but then
until recently so did WTO scrutiny of U.S. gambling or tax laws. U.S.
online casino gambling laws, like drug laws, are erratic: Online casinos
are strictly prosecuted, but state lotteries and Las Vegas are
tolerated. Citing such inconsistency, last November the WTO declared
American gambling enforcement an “illegal barrier to trade in services.”
The fate of these online gambling laws may be a guide to the future of
American marijuana laws.
Do such WTO decisions have any teeth? Yes, because unlike other
international bodies the WTO understands punishment. In his tenure as
U.S. president, George W. Bush has obeyed exactly one international
court decision: a WTO ruling that shot down his protections for American
steel. The reason even Bush listens to the WTO is that the organization
knows the one thing politicians fear: angry industries, especially
farmers. The WTO has the power to authorize punitive economic sanctions,
and those inevitably target politically sensitive exporters—like Florida
orange growers or Midwestern wheat. And to such threats even the United
States responds. Just as the mob gets what it wants by threatening your
family, the WTO targets farmers, and for politicians that’s even
scarier.
Two WTO principles spell trouble for U.S. drug laws. The WTO demands
that countries treat foreign products the same as domestic ones (the
“National Treatment” principle); and it demands that when chemicals or
drugs are banned, those bans be based on good science (the “Beef
Hormone” principle).
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Guerilla News Network
2004 Online Casino News Archive
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